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It's the start of silly season and the 6th day of December sees Bayern Munich linked with a pair of Spanish superstars as BILD reports that Juan Mata and Inigo Martinez are on the radar of Pep Guardiola.
First, lets dispense with the Juan Mata rumor as the 25-year-old and double repeat Chelsea Player of the Year is certainly not going anywhere. Short of Juan Mata hating Jose Mourinho's guts, there's no way he's moving. Yes, he has had limited minutes for the Europa League Champions this season, but that's more down to the fact that Andre Schurrle has been in rather incredibly impressive form for the Blues along with the veritable wealth of attacking options available on that squad.
The more interesting part of that rumor is the Inigo Martinez to move to Bayern portion. Obviously, there's a major caveot in the entire notion as Bayern Munich already have 4 world-renowned central defenders along with Javi Martinez, Jan Kirchoff, and Diego Contento who can play that spot if necessary. That makes the rumor a little strained in credulity and even more so given the eye popping €30M transfer fee being bandied about.
However, Inigo Martinez is the part of the next wave of world class centerbacks and given the age of Dante and van Buyten snapping up one of the world's brightest is certainly something Bayern should be looking at with only Holger Badstuber and Jerome Boateng locking down those positions long term. Considering that Real Sociedad were knocked out in the Champions League this season and are currently trailing Champions League qualification by 6 points they may not have an option if the big boys come knocking with a suitcase full of crisp Euros. And Bayern Munich is one of those European big boys.
